Blancpain GT Nurburgring: Title contenders take win after penalty

Christopher Mies and Alex Riberas have been awarded the win of the opening Nurburgring Blancpain GT Sprint Cup race after a 30-second post-race penalty was applied to the original victor.

The post-race call is enough to lift the Audi pairing of Mies and Riberas into the championship lead, with their total of 90.5s points meaning that the #88 Mercedes of Michael Meadows and Raffaele Marciello is its only title rival.

Meadows and Marciello are nine points behind in the title race and start tomorrow’s race from pole.

The #63 Lamborghini Huracan of Mirko Bortolotti and Christian Engelhart initially took the win, before TV footage emerged showing Engelhart wearing his frontal head restraint over the shoulder straps of his harness, which is a breach of sporting regulations.

Article 120 states that “a driver’s safety harness must be securely fastened before the car leaves the team’s working area but, on exiting the pits, the driver may further tighten the belts or adjust them”.

The penalty drops the #63 car down to 13th position, promoting the #1 Audi of Mies and Riberas into first ahead of the sister #2 car of Will Stevens and Dries Vanthoor.

This unexpected victory extends the lead of Audi WRT pair Mies and Riberas to nine points clear of title-rivals Raffaele Marciello and Michael Meadows going into the final Sprint Cup race of the season.